I went to McDonald's this morning and got an egg and cheese McMuffin for breakfast. They looked at me funny and asked, "no meat?" Too bad I don't live near the Biscuitville anymore, where I could get good hot oatmeal with raisins for breakfast.

I want to open a vegetarian fast food restaurant.

If I couldn't eat meat, I don't think I could survive without eggs. Vegan people -- healthy vegans -- have more commitment to their diet than I could ever have.

Have you tried kamut? I had it once as a cereal, and it was kinda tasty.

Do you have any recipes you could share? I'm trying to find simple ways to cook some of this.

Yeah like I said, the frumenty is really easy and extremely versatile, the best version of it I prefer is using bulgur wheat, literally you just cook it sorta like porridge, a handful of wheat in the pan with water covering it say, an inch over the top, then just boil it and simmer until it goes however soft you prefer it (I like it with a little bite left in it but the kids like it really gooey and soft). Depending how you want it to taste, sweet or savoury or sour or whatever, just add whatever does the job to the water during cooking, like a bit of sugar or some vegetable stock powder or any sorts of herbs and spices. The sweet almond version I like which was very popular in the Middle Ages is where you just cook it in water with a spoonful or so of muscovado sugar (according to your taste add more or less) then when it's drained, stir in the ground almond and I sometimes add flaked almonds in too for some extra crunch and substance.

Then there's golden leeks and onions, popular at the court of King Henry IV of England (apparently!): shred the leeks and slice the onions, cut the rings in half. Boil some water with cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and mace and add the leeks and onions. Take a few strands of saffron and tip a tiny bit of boiled water onto them and crush them a bit to let the colour out, then add them, water and all, to the mixture. Simmer until the vegetables are as soft as you like them (again I like 'em a bit crunchy). Nice to eat with spicy frumenty (cooked in vegetable stock and spiced with cloves, ginger and garlic) and I often have it with maybe a bit of Camembert, baked in the oven with slices of garlic and sprigs of thyme pushed into slits in the top (wrapped in foil) and then you can scoop up the melted Camembert with foccacia bread with olive oil drizzled on it.

I try to be vegetarian when possible and basically not consume a lot of meat. I do like seafood though, but I don't eat it often in the states.

I think as far as the actual net effects individually and 'globally' and socially of cutting out meat in your diet, (barring health issues) you don't have to cut it out totally. A little goes a long way!

I was told a 'funny story' of how a woman had to add bacon and cheese to her veggie burger to make it taste palatable to her. And then she swore veggie burgers off because it 'defeated the purpose' to add meat/milk products to it.

I disagreed. With all the energy and land mass used to create one beef patty, it's great that you can cut that out. A little cheese and bacon is much better also for the body than cheese and bacon AND 1/2 a pound of extra fatty red meat.

Luckily, I don't have health restrictions and can eat whatever I want. I live in a vegan house now (that will probably go vegetarian). Strict vegetarian cooking is extremely limiting and frustrating for the 'casual cook'. You can make lots of tasty food, but it takes a lot of effort to prepare fake meat and fake cheese and you have to be very familiar with the properties of seitan, tempeh, 'nutritional yeast', etc. etc. et.c that's not otherwise 'common knowledge'.

Vegan diets are also not necessarily cheaper than meat heavy diets. I'd argue it can be very expensive since vegan pre-packaged food is generally sold at a premium.

I did make vegan wheat crepes with sauteed veggie filling the other day. Do you know how tricky a) vegan crepes and b) wheat crepes are? Just imagine how the a+b vegan wheat crepes came out. Not quite what I expected but the first 4 were edible.

“If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.” ― Oscar Wilde

I agree CzeCze, in fact in the UK I know it's incredibly expensive to be a vegan and even being a lacto-ovo veggie can add about 15% to your grocery bill.

I always go veggie for Lent every year and my grocery costs do rise quite a bit. I also have to spend a lot more time cooking as like you say, the recipes and ingredients you need to ensure you still get your protein and iron and stuff are pretty time consuming if you want any kind of variety.

Uh, no, I eat every tasty animal there is, pretty much. I do love fruits and veggies, though. And the more local the food, the better. Philadelphia is pretty good about that. We have some of the most wonderful fruits, veggies, meat, and dairy in the world within 100 miles of here.

A great suggestion Now, I've never cooked tofu before, so does it look the same at all times, or does it have a cooked look to it?

It's appearance doesn't change at all, IIRC. Boiling it in the water is more just heating it through.

By the way, tofu comes in different textures. Firm tofu works best for soup.

Tofu can be a bit bland, so if you fry it like rhinosaur suggested you might need a bit of seasoning or sauce to make it a bit more exciting. When you fry tofu, it can get a tinge of brown from the frying.